Something There That Wasn't There Before
by thumos
Summary: When Zuko helps Katara fight off the crazy Fire Nation girl and Katara agrees to heal Zuko's uncle, the two finally come to an understanding. AU tag to "The Chase". Sort of Zutara but not really.
1. Chapter 1

When she sees him again, for the first time since she fought him at the North Pole, she doesn't recognize him at first. The boy she sees is thin and almost frail, with dark circles under his eyes – well, his good one anyway – the beginnings of hair sprouting on his head, and his eyes are dull – nothing like the angry ponytailed monster she's come to know. It's the scar that eventually gives him away, but when she sees him attacking that crazy Fire Nation girl from Omashu – the one who looks quite a bit like him, now that she can really see her – and not Aang, she lets him be. He glances in her direction and nods once, and Katara realizes that they've finally come to a sort of understanding. She follows his lead almost subconsciously as they both, along with Aang, Toph, Sokka, and his uncle, corner the Fire Nation girl.

"Well, look at this," the girl sneers. "Enemies and traitors, all working together." Katara can't help but be relieved. They're all tired – even Zuko and Iroh. The girl raises her hands and closes her eyes. "I'm done. I know when I'm beaten. A princess surrenders with honor." Katara allows herself to finally relax. Maybe Zuko and Iroh can deal with her, since she's Fire Nation and they – _why did she just shoot Iroh in the chest?_

The old man cries out in pain, and the rest attack the girl immediately, but she escapes before they can cause any harm. Zuko runs to his fallen uncle, calling his name frantically, his voice breaking. It's then that Katara's healer's instincts take over and she crouches down next to the boy who used to be her enemy. She tears open the old man's shirt and opens her waterskin, bending water onto the wound on his chest. "What do you think you're doing?" Zuko demands. "Get away from him!"

"He's seriously injured!" Katara yells back. "You're not a doctor, and there's no one here who'll help Fire Nation people anyway!"

"Get out of here!" Zuko orders. "Leave!"

"No!" Katara snaps. "Not until I finish healing your uncle!" She pretends not to notice the way he's trembling now. He's trying to suppress it, but it's there; it's just like when Sokka tries to cover up sadness with jokes and puns, and Katara wants to laugh at how well she can read him now that the perpetual anger is gone.

As she heals the wound – it's a bad wound, and it'll probably scar – it occurs to her that Zuko's human too, no matter what he did in the past. He may not be the nicest person out there, but even he has loved ones he wants to protect. She'd like to think she's helping him out of the kindness of her heart, but, deep down, she know it's not true. He's in her debt, now that she's healed his uncle, and Zuko, honor-bound prince that he is, will no doubt fulfill his terms – she mentally kicks herself for thinking something so insensitive, even if it's about Zuko.

Zuko's not even making an effort to hide his trembling anymore – either that, or it's gotten a lot worse. At long last, Iroh opens his eyes, and Zuko immediately props him up with one arm. "Uncle?" he says almost immediately. "Are you okay? Say something!" He's still incredibly tense, and his voice is a bit higher than it was before, Katara notes.

"No need to yell, Prince Zuko," the old man responds, as if nothing is wrong. "I'm fine."

Zuko sighs in relief, and all tension leaves his body as he relaxes. "Thank the spirits." He jerks his head upward and finally stares at Katara with a mixture of embarrassment, happiness, and gratefulness. "Um… I mean… Thank you. You really didn't have to—"

"It's okay," Katara cuts him off, partly because she doesn't want to hear him struggle with his words anymore, partly because she can't wrap her head around the fact that Zuko, of all people, can be so _awkward_. This is Zuko, she realizes, when he doesn't have anything to worry about. A shy, awkward teenager – the _real_ Zuko. And Katara can't tell if she wants him to act this way all the time or go back to his angry self for normalcy's sake.

It's only now that she finally takes in Zuko's changed appearance. He looks a lot younger now, and a lot less scary, and she's glad for the change. But now she's tired and she just wants to sleep now that the stupid Fire Nation girl – his sister? – is gone. Sleep comes so easily after the awkward goodbyes, but Katara can't figure out, for the life of her, why she can't stop thinking about the new, thinner, more somber Zuko with less hair and what could possibly have happened for him to change so dramatically.

* * *

_I love Zutara. I really do. But I can't stand the way it's typically portrayed in the fandom. I don't care what anyone else says – "I'll save you from the pirates" is not romantic in any way, shape, or form (especially since he ties her to a tree shortly afterward). The way I see it, the possibility of a legitimate romance didn't even come up until Ba Sing Se, when they were stuck together in the crystal catacombs (there's a million things wrong with the scene in the first place, like why Katara goes from "Zuko, I can help you!" from "The Chase" to "Die, you traitor!" in "Crossroads of Destiny"), when Katara agrees to heal his scar. THIS DOESN'T MEAN THEY'RE GOING TO START EATING EACH OTHER'S FACES RIGHT AWAY. REAL ROMANCE DOESN'T DEVELOP THAT QUICKLY. No, that comes AFTER Zuko joins the Gaang. I can't be the only one who thought it was really sweet that Zuko tried so hard to gain Katara's trust (even though he really didn't betray her because he was never on her side to begin with). Unfortunately, despite how appealing it is, Zutara can't work in canon… but I'll get to that later._

_Whether you skipped that long ramble/drabble/rant or read it, PLEASE REVIEW!_


	2. Chapter 2

_I lied. If this is going to continue, it's going to evolve into Zutara. But it'll be a slow, hopefully realistic process. Don't worry – even though this is CoD (Crossroads of Destiny, not Call of Duty), there won't be any eating of faces in the crystal catacombs. Because, if you remember my previous rant, _THAT WOULDN'T HAPPEN IN REAL LIFE_. PEOPLE ARE NOT THAT HORNY. Anyway, enjoy!_

* * *

When she sees him next, he's even more unrecognizable than before, and she has to rely on the scar to identify him. His hair is longer, but still pretty short, and he's thinner. But he's… lighter, somehow – like the world was just lifted off his shoulders. It's strange because he seems happy – well what passes for happy by Zuko's standards – and yet his face is too pale, and Katara notices the way he pauses every so often to cough. And, like she would for Sokka, she worries. Is he sick? Why is he working when he's sick?

And then it hits her. What is he doing in Ba Sing Se anyway? Working in a teashop, no less? And then she panics.

_He's here to capture Aang._

_ He's here for _us_._

_ How could he do this to me? I healed his uncle!_

It's the panic that makes her run back to the palace and tell Suki what happened. Suki would understand. Suki will know what to do.

But it isn't Suki, and Katara's mentally kicking herself because _she should have seen that before_. Strangely enough, when Azula locks her up in a cave under Ba Sing Se, her head clears, and she's able to think rationally. If Zuko knew she, Sokka, Toph, and Aang were in Ba Sing Se, then wouldn't he have come after them already? Then she remembers the way he completely panicked when Azula shot fire at his uncle.

_He'd have to be an idiot to want to go back to a place that _supports_ that._

And then the reality of the situation sinks in. Azula knows that her brother's in town, and it's all Katara's fault. Katara just ordered an innocent person to his death.

And Zuko's definitely _not_ here to capture Aang, especially with the way he was acting back when Katara healed his uncle. Because _that_ was the _real_ Zuko – awkward and unsure of how to express himself, not the angry jerk who chased them from one pole to the other. Zuko is…

What _is_ Zuko exactly? Katara doesn't know, and she's not sure anyone else does. Maybe he himself doesn't even know. She groans and slumps to the floor; nothing makes sense anymore.

When Zuko gets tossed into the same cave, Katara can't help but wonder if Ba Sing Se really has no other prisons, or if the Dai Li is just lazy. She barely acknowledges him, choosing instead to hug her knees and stare listlessly ahead. Thankfully, he's silent as well, and still as awkward as he was before.

But then he keeps coughing, and that piques Katara's concern. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he rasps a bit too quickly before coughing again.

Before he can say anything else, Katara places her hand on his forehead, careful not to touch his scar; she thinks it's a bit too warm, but maybe it's a firebender thing. Nevertheless… "You're feverish."

"I'm fine," he repeats stiffly.

"No you're not," she shoots back. "Didn't anyone ever tell you that if you don't rest when you're sick, you won't get any better?"

"I'm not sick!" he snaps. "Well I _was_, but not anymore."

Katara sighs and finally decides to address the elephant-gazelle in the room. "I'm sorry. It's my fault you're down here. I told your sister you were here." He winces, and her guilt escalates. "I didn't know it was her, though. She and her _friends_ impersonated the Kyoshi warriors. That's how they got here." And then her eyes widen, and she panics again. "Suki… If Azula's impersonating Suki, then what happened to _Suki_? What about the rest of the warriors? Where are they?"

"Prisoners of war, probably," Zuko answers dully. "Chances are, the warriors are in a prison at the Caldera, and the leader's in the Boiling Rock – that's where all the dangerous prisoners of war go."

Katara shoots a glare at him. "You're not helping!"

"I wasn't trying to," he replies smoothly.

She sighs heavily. "If Azula finds out about the eclipse, then—"

"You're going to invade the Caldera during the eclipse." She realizes her mistake too late, and she desperately wishes she can take it back. "It's not a bad plan – just really predictable."

"What do you mean?" she asks a bit defensively.

Zuko scoffs, and Katara rolls her eyes when he has to clear his throat afterward. "Give us a little more credit. Do you honestly think that Father isn't expecting something like this? Thanks to Zhao's secret library, we have every eclipse – solar _and_ lunar – documented for the next century. If you're going to invade the Fire Nation, don't do it then. Try something smaller – like taking back Omashu or some of the colonies or something like that.

"But—" she protests weakly; Zuko just stabbed a giant, gaping hole through Sokka's brilliant plan.

"Father will be _expecting_ an invasion then," Zuko continues as if she hasn't spoken up. "If you value your life, don't follow through with that plan."

She frowns in confusion and voices the question that's been running through her head since he started talking. "Why are you telling me this?" He shrugs, and she can't shake off the feeling that he himself doesn't know either. "So what are we going to do? Your sister's taken over Ba Sing Se."

"Uncle got away," he says in a low voice. "He knows that Azula's here."

"So he'll bust us out of here?"

"Ideally, he'll get the hell out of the city." And Katara can't blame him; she'd think the same if she were in his position.

She sighs heavily. "Aang and Sokka left Ba Sing Se too. Toph's here with her mom, so she'd be able to bust us out, but I don't want her anywhere near your sister… no offense."

"None taken."

There's a long silence as awkward as Zuko. "So…" he says awkwardly. "How's waterbending going?" She shoots him the sharpest, deadliest glare she can muster.

"I don't know," she replies sarcastically. "How's firebending going?"

"Nonexistent," he scoffs. "It's a little hard to blend in with Earth Kingdom people when you're a firebender, if you haven't exactly noticed. Not all of us got free stuff for traveling with the Avatar."

Katara sighs and stands up, calling on all the water in the cave – the pond a little ways away, the meager bit of water in her waterskin, even the sweat on their foreheads, and sends it rushing towards a cave wall. "Well now's as good a time to start as any. Help me break out of here!"

"That's not going to work," he says dully, showing no inclination of moving.

"We can't stay here!"

"And if we do get out, what exactly do you plan to do? If Azula's taken over the city, we'll be spotted on sight, and we won't even make it to the walls, let alone escape." She screams in frustration and freezes him to the wall. "Thanks."

"All right," she says, exhaling slowly to calm herself down and clear her head. "So we wear down the rock and bust out of here. We'll probably need disguises if we're going to grab Toph and your uncle and sneak out of Ba Sing Se."

He shakes his head solemnly. "I'll still be pretty recognizable."

A thought flies to her mind, and she shuts it down almost immediately. _No_, she tells herself. _It's too risky. What if you need it later? But we'll never get out if people see his scar…_ "Just help me wear down the rock so we can get out of here. There's something I can do to… to make you less recognizable." Her hands are shaking now, but he nods and melts the ice trapping him against the wall before helping her.

Unfortunately, they don't get very far. The wall they're trying to wear down suddenly explodes, revealing Aang and Zuko's uncle. "Aang!" Katara yelps in surprise, and the airbender runs to hug her. "What are you doing here? You need to get out of here. Azula took over Ba Sing Se. She's going to—"

"What are you doing here?" Aang yells at Zuko. The scarred prince stares blankly at him, barely reacting.

"I'll tell you later," Katara answers hurriedly. "Right now, we need to—"

"Well, what have we here?"

Things go downhill when Azula shows up. The ensuing fight passes by in a blur, but the feeling of utter shock and betrayal when Zuko turns on her doesn't disappear for a long time. Within minutes, she's fleeing Ba Sing Se with Sokka, Toph, the Earth King, and an unconscious Aang, and the only thing she can feel is rage.

* * *

_Yes, I changed the whole Zuko-Katara-trapped-in-a-cave deal, and yes, I rushed the end. Part of the reason is that I can't write fight scenes to save my life, and the other part is that the fight is unimportant in the context of this fic._

_Sorry, but I have another rant. I hate how people call Makorra Bryke's gift to the Zutarians. THAT'S NOT TRUE. Comparing Mako and Zuko is like comparing abortion to the Holocaust. You just can't do it. And Korra is NOTHING like Katara. So don't tell me that Makorra is LoK's version of Zutara, because that's bovine feces._

_Not to shamelessly promote my other fics or anything, but please read them and review them… and this one too._

_PS: the song's from "Beauty and the Beast". I didn't realize how fitting it was until AFTER I named the fic. Go me._


	3. Chapter 3

_This chapter's going to be pretty cliché, though I'm going to try to come at it from a different angle. Let me know how I do._

* * *

Sparky, Toph concludes, is not nearly as bad as everyone says he is. Sure, he burned her feet, and she hated him at the time because _holy flying shit of Oma and Shu, she couldn't see_, but since the incident, he's apologized so many times, she's lost count, and she recently took him up on his offer to give her rides all over the temple on his back. It seems like everyone's starting to accept him – Aang, Sokka, Teo, the Duke, Haru… everyone except Katara, surprisingly.

It's weird; Sugar Queen's usually the one to trust people blindly, taking on their problems and helping them in any way she can. But not with Sparky… actually, the way she acts around him is a lot like the way she acted around that Jet guy – only this time, she really is telling the truth when she says Sparky was never her boyfriend or anything.

But then there's the way Sparky acts around her. Toph isn't blind – well she is, but only in the literal sense; she knows that Sparky's heart rate goes double time whenever Sugar Queen enters the room. It's almost like a routine: his heart rate starts slowing down, and then when Katara looks at him or addresses him, his heart jumps. Whatever he did, it must have been pretty bad for her to not forgive him yet.

What's weird, yet kind of sweet at the same time, is that Sparky trusts her almost completely. It's like her word is the only thing that matters to him. Toph can't help but wonder, if Gramps and Sugar Queen were arguing about something, which side Sparky would take.

And the worst part is that Katara doesn't trust him at all.

* * *

_Depressingly short chapter. Sorry. No rant this chapter either. Anyway, PLEASE REVIEW!_


	4. Chapter 4

It isn't long before Zuko notices that everyone acts differently in his or her sleep. Toph is, for all intents and purposes, a rock when she sleeps; she finds a comfortable position and stays in it, barely moving at all. Sokka and Suki are both blanket hoarders, so Zuko can't help but chuckle when imagining the two sharing one blanket. Aang sleepwalks, and Zuko sleeps with one eye open – not that he never did before – to make sure the twelve-year-old doesn't hurt himself in his sleep before he has to save the world. Katara talks in her sleep. Usually, it's just a few words here and there, but there are times when she carries entire conversations in her sleep, be it reminiscing with Sokka, lecturing Toph about cleaning or doing her part to help or something, correcting Aang on some waterbending stance, laughing with Suki at something or another, or yelling at Zuko (Zuko tries to tune her out at these times).

But one night – incidentally, the night after Azula attacked them at the Western Air Temple – she's crying in her sleep. Zuko briefly considers waking her up, but decides against it; she'd probably get the wrong idea anyway. But then she starts whimpering her mother's name, and now Zuko knows that he can't leave her alone. If she lashes out, hopefully he'll be able to defend himself without harming her in the process.

Vaguely wondering if he'll regret this later, Zuko gently shakes her shoulder. As expected, she flinches upon contact, and her hand wraps tightly around his wrist. She opens her mouth – probably to yell at him – but Zuko cuts her off by whispering: "You were having a nightmare." She frowns at him almost quizzically before rubbing her eyes and sitting up. "Do you want to talk about it?"

She glares harshly at him. "No! Leave me alone!" Not wanting to anger her further, Zuko simply sighs and leaves.

* * *

Katara flat out avoids him the next day, but Zuko still can't get her out of his mind. The way she so helplessly called for her mother the night before… he can't help but wonder if he'd ever done the same. But it's not fair, he realizes, to make her deal with all of this on her own; she's always so ready to help everyone else, so is it really so wrong to do the same for her?

Which is why he finds himself speaking in hushed whispers with Sokka, trying to get as much information on her mother as possible. Sokka looks at him like there's a new scar on the good half of his face, but answers anyway. "She was killed in a Fire Nation raid," he explains in a deceptively calm voice. "When the black snow came, all these Fire Nation soldiers appeared. Dad told us to go hide, but Katara went to find Mom. I ran after her, but when I finally got there, she was crying, and Dad wouldn't let me go in the igloo. I think… I think she found Mom's body."

… which, Zuko admits, is a lot worse than not knowing where his own mother is. "Do you remember anything about the soldiers who attacked you that day?" he asks, almost desperately.

Sokka stares up at the sky, at the faint, barely visible sliver of the moon, and sighs. "Sea ravens," is all he says.

_The Southern Raiders. _Before Sokka can say another word, Zuko runs to find Katara. He knows where the Southern Raiders' base is; if he can tell Katara where they are maybe she can…

"What do you want Zuko?" she asks when he skids to a halt in front of her.

… she can _what_ exactly? He mentally bashes his head against a wall, cursing himself for not thinking this through. "I know who killed your mother," he says bluntly, "and I can help you find him."

It's a relief that he can read her so well. Her expression changes from shock to anger almost seamlessly. She clenches and unclenches her fists as she glares at him. "How did you…?" Realization dawns on her face. "Sokka."

Zuko exhales slowly. "Look, I can help you find him—"

"So I can what?" she cuts him off, standing on her toes so that she's closer to eye-level with him. "Kill him? Get revenge? If that's your way of trying to sabotage us—"

"I'm not trying to sabotage you!" he can't help but yell back.

"Then what do you want?"

"I want you to trust me!"

Everything goes silent, and she turns her back to him. "That's not going to happen," she says quietly. "Not for a long time."

Zuko fixes his gaze on the ground. "I'm sorry."

She doesn't say anything before leaving him there.

* * *

Dinner is too excruciatingly quiet, and it doesn't have to do with the fact that their little gang was recently cut in half. Katara's conspicuously absent, and Zuko takes it on himself to give her her share of food. He finds her sitting at the edge of a cliff, waterbending the ocean absentmindedly. When he sits down next to her, she tenses, but he pretends not to notice. "Here," he says, handing her a bowl of congee.

"I'm not hungry," she replies dully. She exhales slowly as she stares up at the full moon. "It's been three years since Mom died."

Unsure of what else to say, Zuko hangs his head and tells her, "Sokka told me what happened."

"I know." She sighs as she draws her knees up to her chest. "Look, Zuko… I… After Ba Sing Se, I was so mad at you. I hated you because I thought… I thought you were really on our side, and that you _owed_ me for healing your uncle, or at least… I _tried_ to hate you. I didn't tell anyone what you told me about the eclipse because… I guess I convinced myself that you lied to me about that, but you were right, and invading the palace was just _stupid_, and ever since you joined us, you've done nothing to hurt any of us, and…" She stares up at the moon again. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," he answers automatically before backtracking. "Wait… I mean… what? Why are _you_ apologizing? I'm the one that—"

"You made a mistake," she cuts him off. "It wasn't fair of me to hold it against you."

"It was a pretty huge mistake, since Aang almost _died_."

"But he _didn't_ die. He was fine, and ever since then, I've been making excuses to hate you, but all you've done is prove yourself, over and over. My mom always said that the hardest thing was to forgive someone, and… I forgive you."

Zuko burns himself to make sure he's not dreaming, and Katara stares at him with a mixture of confusion and annoyance. "I… that is… thank you, Katara."

"And thank you for… whatever you were trying to do about the man who killed Mom. What were you trying to do anyway?"

Zuko chuckles awkwardly and feels his face heat up. "I have no idea," he replies. "I didn't really think that one through."

Katara laughs, and it's a welcome sound. She sobers up almost immediately, though, and starts picking at the grass around her. "Hey, Zuko? Can I ask you something? Did something happen to _your_ mom? No one ever talks about the Fire Lord having a wife."

He starts fidgeting uncomfortably; he's never told anyone about his mother before… but it's only fair that he tell her, especially since he wants to gain her trust.

"I don't know," he says finally. "She just… disappeared one day. She's alive, but…" _…but I don't know where she is and she had _three years_ to find me while I was in exile and she never did and she doesn't care no one but Uncle cares and—_

He jumps when she slides her hand into his and squeezes, and, unsure of what to do, he lets his hand lie limply in hers. "When the war ends… I'll help you find her."

Something warm blossoms in his gut, and he can't think of anything to say. Instead, he rests his head on Katara's shoulder, welcoming a long, comfortable, peaceful silence.

* * *

_Oh. I just got rid of half of TSR, and I can't decide if it was a smart or stupid move. I never really liked the whole "let's bond over our dead and disappeared mothers!" part of Zutara anyway… They're alike in a lot of other ways – believe me; as Tenzin puts it, "DON'T BRING MY MOTHER INTO THIS!" Anyway, PLEASE REVIEW!_


	5. Chapter 5

Aang's not entirely sure what happened, but something made Zuko and Katara actually get along… well, rather, something made Katara forgive Zuko. It was nice at first, because now they're pretty much inseparable, but now it's just getting annoying. Wherever Katara is, you can bet Zuko isn't too far away; they even decided on joining practice sessions to bring another dimension to Aang's training – practice waterbending and firebending at the same time while fighting a firebender, just like the fight with Fire Lord Ozai would probably be.

But then there's nice and there's _annoying_. Now, at a theatre on Ember Island, Zuko's sitting next to Katara and talking and laughing with her, like nothing ever went wrong with them, like he never tied her to a tree and taunted her with her mother's necklace just months before, like he never betrayed them down in Ba Sing Se. He doesn't pay much attention to the play, outside the fact that he's played by a _woman_, opting instead to watch Katara and Zuko, laughing at the horrible play, cracking snide, sarcastic jokes that put Sokka's to shame. Aang tells himself it doesn't mean anything; they're just _friends_, and the play really _is_ horrible, so of course they'd laugh at it! … but do they really have to sit so _close_ to each other?

Things pass by slowly until the play reaches Ba Sing Se, and the stage versions of Katara and Zuko are trapped together in prison. The real Katara and Zuko stop their heckling and tense up in a way that can only mean that _something serious happened_. "Ever since I first met you, I've had eyes only for you," stage Katara proclaims dramatically.

"I thought you were the Avatar's girlfriend!" stage Zuko replies just as dramatically. Aang clenches his fists, hoping stage Katara will disagree.

She doesn't. "Girlfriend?" stage Katara repeats. "Why, he's like a brother to me!" Aang notices the real Katara covering her eyes with her hands and the real Zuko blushing furiously. _Why isn't he denying it?_ he can't help but think. Aang closes his eyes when stage Katara and Zuko embrace, and barely pays attention as Azula kills his stage counterpart. Just after the second act ends, he rushes to Katara's side and whispers to her, "I need to talk to you."

He leads her to a balcony, trying to ignore the fact that she's blushing too. "What's up?" she asks a bit shakily.

He decides to cut straight to the chase. "Did you mean what you said in there?"

She frowns in confusion. "About what?"

"About…" _About you loving me like a brother. About you being in love with Zuko. Everything you said when you were in prison with Zuko._ "About Zuko."

"Aang…" she mumbles before frowning sternly at him. "Where are your priorities? The comet is coming in a week; you should be focusing on defeating the Fire Lord, not on your love life!"

"But…" Aang protests weakly. "Just tell me something. Do you love Zuko?"

"Wh-What?" Her face now matches her red Fire Nation clothing. "I-I'm not answering that question!"

"Because it's true, isn't it?"

She glares at him. "No, because you're asking me for a yes or no answer to a very complicated question! Unlike you, I haven't really thought about any of this!"

"But we… On the day of the eclipse…"

Now she looks a bit guilty. "Oh, Aang…" She sighs heavily and places one hand on his shoulder. "Just focus on your bending for now. We'll talk about this later… _after_ the comet."

She walks away, and Aang can't stop the mantra that plays over and over in his head.

_Sheloveshimsheloveshimshelov eshim…_

* * *

_Some Kataangst for you all. Don't get me wrong – I have nothing against Kataang, but the way Aang acted in "Ember Island Players" was downright embarrassing. Maybe it's an Avatar thing, cause his whole speech to Katara was as smooth as Korra's "Look, I really like you and I think we were meant to be together". The next chapter will be the last one. Please review!_


	6. Chapter 6

It isn't until he takes a lightning bolt for her that Katara finally concedes that she and Zuko aren't – and probably never have been – _just friends_. No, there was always something more there, something she can't quite describe, something that was never really brought to light until _he took lightning for her_.

… she still can't quite wrap her head around that. As she sits in the closest room to the scene of the Agni Kai, healing Zuko to the best of her abilities – she can't even begin to describe how grateful she is that he redirected at least _some_ of the lightning – she can't help but wonder if Zuko would do the same for Suki or Aang or Sokka or Toph, or if she's a special case. A part of her admits that she'd probably never know, and Zuko probably wouldn't know either, unless he's placed in a situation like that.

They're both silent for once, and it's almost like that time in Ba Sing Se, where she doesn't know what to think or expect with him… but they've danced around the issue for long enough, and they need to settle this _now_, before things get even more complicated.

"Zuko—"

"Katara—"

She blushes when they address each other simultaneously, and, out of the corner of her eye, she sees him do the same. "I… uh…" he mumbles awkwardly. "You go first."

She sighs heavily. "About… today… I… you… Why did you…" Why is it so hard to form coherent sentences? Katara mentally bashes her head against a wall; a year ago this would be way easier. Maybe if he was just an angry jerk instead of a dork who sometimes acts like an angry jerk, this would be easier. And then, finally, there's one, concise question. "Why me?"

He leans against her, and Katara tries to ignore how _right_ it feels. "I don't know," he answers quietly. "I don't know why I did it. All I know is that the lightning was coming towards you, and I had to _do something_ about it, so I just…" He made an awkward gesture with his hands, one that Katara understood, strangely enough.

"But would you have done the same for the others?"

She can feel him stiffen, and her heart sinks. "Probably not," he says, confirming her suspicions. "Katara, I—"

"Don't," she interrupts him. "Please." She gently pushes him off her, ignoring the vague guilty feeling that accompanies the action. "Zuko… this is never going to work out."

"Why not?" he asks, sounding a bit agitated. "I'm going to be Fire Lord now, so why can't we—"

"That's exactly why we can't," Katara cuts him off. "Zuko… I…" _I love you, but..._ "After this past year… I don't think I could handle being cooped up in one place again. Zuko, I want to see the world, but not because we're trying to stop a war… I mean…" _Great. He's rubbing off on me._ She sighs and tries a different approach. "We're not good for each other, you know?"

"Because we're too different? I know you're Water Tribe and I'm Fire Nation, but that doesn't mean—"

"Because we're too _similar_. Zuko, talking to you is like talking to _me_, if that makes sense. Yeah, we may come from different parts of the world, but… It's like we're the same person! I don't think a relationship like that is exactly healthy."

Her heart breaks a little at his crestfallen expression. "I understand," he says quietly, sadly.

"My place in this world is with Aang," she continues, "restoring the world, helping him keep the balance. Yours is _here_, redeeming the Fire Nation after a century of war. I don't know about you, but I know _I_ wouldn't fit in here. Besides – you have Mai, right?"

Realization crosses his face, and Katara vaguely wonders if he's even thought about Mai since he returned from the Boiling Rock. He lowers his head and says in a quiet whisper: "Decades from now… if we're both still here, but Aang and Mai are not… can we…?"

She can feel tears stinging her eyes as she throws her arms around Zuko's shoulders and hugs him tightly. The tears actually fall when his arms circle around her waist and he hugs her back. "Don't say things like that," she says while burying her face in his hair, "but… yes."

… and, more than seventy years later, they do.

* * *

_Finis._

_Whether you support the pairing or not, you can't deny that Katara and Zuko's relationship is pretty complex. If you really read into it, like I do with absolutely EVERYTHING, you can almost compare it to Catherine and Heathcliff from _Wuthering Heights_ (Emily Bronte's version – the REAL one – not Stephenie Meyer's failed interpretation). Here's a quote by Catherine, regarding Heathcliff (which provided inspiration for this last chapter):_

_"I cannot express it; but surely you and everybody have a notion that there is or should be an existence of yours beyond you. What were the use of my creation, if I were entirely contained here? My great miseries in this world have been Heathcliff's miseries, and I watched and felt each from the beginning: my great thought in living is himself. If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger: I should not seem a part of it. My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being."_

… _but I'm probably stretching things. A LOT. Now go read "Five Stages of Grief," my slightly cracky old!Zutara fic from Tenzin's point of view, which is this fic's sort of sequel. PLEASE REVIEW!_

… _and thanks for reading!_


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